Beach preservation system

ABSTRACT

Triple dewatering pipe recovery lines with dual pumping stations are installed underneath and along 1,000 feet of beach face on a predetermined centerline. The recovery lines are positioned at different depths with an overall length of approximately 1,400 linear feet each. This length will include a needed length to connect with the pumping stations located away from the beach. The triple lines will be spaced vertically over a height of approximately 6 feet and extend to a maximum depth of 8-12 feet and will be an 8-inch diameter HDPE well screen covered with a two ply filter fabric. The lines are also spaced laterally in a pattern of the adjacent receding coast line. Each progressively lower line will be approximately two feet closer to the ocean. The trench width will be approximately 18 inches and will be backfilled with the natural beach sands below ground surface.

This is a complete application claiming benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Appln. Ser. No. 61/344,359, filed Jul. 6, 2010, herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reclaimingbeach sand by removing sea water from a shoreline of a beach so as toretain sand carried by impacting waves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a continued need to maintain and expand sand beach fronts alongthe coastlines. These beach fronts maintain the integrity of a buffer orbarrier between the ocean and the interior land. This buffer is not onlyimportant for safety of the residents along a beach front, but also forthe economic value of tourism enabled by the continued presence of abeach front.

Many different methods have been devised for maintaining the sand at abeach front. This has included off-shore dredging of the ocean to movesand to the beach front, as well as the trucking of sand from theinterior land portions to the beach front. These efforts are undertakenat great expense and have proven to provide only short term solutions.Due to the constant wave action at the coastline, the landscape of thebeach front is continuously changing, most often to the detriment of thecoastline.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to develop a beachpreservation system which supplements the sand at a beach front withsand adjacent to the beach front as the beach front's wave actiondeposit sand particles onto an existing beach front.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a unique demonstration of what a permanentdewatering system can accomplish in the preservation of one of our mostprecious resources, our beaches. The components are all aestheticallypleasing, installed below ground level under the beach face and out ofsight. Once installed and operated as recommended under normalconditions, the present invention will stop further loss of sand frommost sections of beach where the installation is made and then aftercontinued operation, accretion of the beach will occur. Beaches canthereby be renewed by copying the “natural process of accretion” givingwildlife access to beaches that have been destroyed or are too small fornesting areas. Beach preservation can be made available and affordableto coastal states and counties.

Beach geology generally consists primarily of medium to coarse sands toten feet below the beach surface. To prepare for a typical installationof the present invention, geological studies will be completed beforeany installation of the system begins.

Triple dewatering pipe recovery lines with dual pumping stations areinstalled underneath and along 1,000 feet of beach face on apredetermined centerline. Installation of the pipes may be accomplishedin accordance with U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,871,281 and 4,927,292, herebyincorporated in their entirety by reference.

The recovery lines are positioned at different depths with an overalllength of approximately 1,400 linear feet each. This length will includea needed length to connect with the pumping stations located away fromthe beach. The triple lines will be spaced vertically over a height ofapproximately 6 feet and extend to a maximum depth of 8-12 feet and willbe an 8 inch diameter HDPE well screen covered with a two ply filterfabric. The lines are also spaced laterally in a pattern of the adjacentreceding coast line. Each progressively lower line will be approximatelytwo feet closer to the ocean. The trench width will be approximately 18inches and will be backfilled with the natural beach sands below groundsurface.

The trenching and delivery operation cuts a nominal 18-inch wide trenchand in one-pass installs semi vertical risers connected to thehorizontal pipe screens. The trench is continuously backfilled with thenatural beach sands. There are no open trenches and de-watering is notrequired for installation.

An installation machine is readied by attaching a cutting boom and adewatering pipe delivery system. The trench will be excavated fromground surface to a required depth. The 8 inch screened dewatering pipeswill be laid on design grades at different depths and are fed throughthe delivery system. The dewatering pipes are attached to a semivertical 10 inch pump station riser that is placed on the back of thedelivery system.

The cutting boom excavates separate trenches and installs pump stationrisers and the dewatering pipe screens, parallel to each other under thebeach face. The screens will then be installed to the designed lengthand depths. The dewatering pipes are then connected to a suctionmanifold system inside the pump housing chambers and the manifolds areconnected to high performance vacuum pumps that remove a large quantityof water from the pipes placed under the beach face creating adewatering zone under the beach face, stabilizing the beach face.

As waves break on the stabilized beach face each wave has a little sandin suspension in the water creating the wave. The dewatered zone beneaththe beach face will absorb some of the wave energy water from each wave,remove the sand from suspension in that wave water and deposit this sandon the beach face. Continued dewatering of the beach face will cause thesand to accrete and over time the beach will grow until the new beachextends beyond the influence of the dewatering pipe screens.

After the beach has grown, new screens can be placed again under the newbeach face and hooked up to the same pumping system to continue tostabilize and build a further extension of the new beach face.Installation and operation of this system will mitigate costly beachrestoration projects that require sand to be pumped in. The system canbe used after costly beach sand pumping or hauling restoration projectshave been completed to hold expensive imported sand in place.

This system is unique in that it will attract sand from several sourcesand all of that sand will be compatible with the sand on the beach. Alot of current problems with beach re-nourishment projects are sandincompatibility. Conventional renourishment projects import sand frominland sources or off-shore sources and most times far away from thebeach being treated. The present invention can be installed on newlyfilled or dredged filled beaches to keep the sand in place and stop thenever ending “pump sand in and watch it wash away” syndrome.

The system of the present invention will attract some of the sand thatis transported by the beach with ocean currents, and will also attractsand from the ocean floor adjacent to the beach face. Each wave willbring a small amount of sand from the ocean floor, thus deepening theocean by a few inches while piling sand from the ocean floor on thebeach face.

A directional drill is used to install approximately 600 linear feet of6-10 inch water discharge pipe from each pump station into the ocean.The end of the discharge pipe is installed approximately 100 feet offshore and approximately 6 feet under the ocean floor before exitingupward through the ocean floor and into the surf.

The end of the discharge pipe will be fitted with a flexible pipediffuser with a small marker buoy attached to identify the end of thedischarge pipe. Pump station water could also be discharged alongjetties or into the rip rap that may be placed along natural passes tothe oceans. The discharge water can also be directed inland to flushmarinas or the intra-coastal waterway.

It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide abeach preservation system having a series of at least three verticallyspaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front.

It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide abeach preservation system having a series of at least three verticallyspaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with thepipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area ofthe beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide abeach preservation system having a series of at least three verticallyspaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with thepipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area ofthe beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis with the at leastthree dewatering pipes feeding sea water to a pumping station and thepumping station propelling the sea water back into the ocean at adistance spaced from the dewatering pipes.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide abeach preservation system having a series of at least three verticallyspaced dewatering pipes spaced along a length of beach front with thepipes also being horizontally spaced so as to provide a large area ofthe beach front being dewatered on a continuous basis with the at leastthree dewatering pipes feeding sea water to a pumping station and thepumping station propelling the sea water back into the ocean at adistance spaced from the dewatering pipes with the entire processcontinued until the beach front is extended beyond the pre-existingshoreline such that additional dewatering pipes may be installed tocontinue the process to increase the width of the beach front.

These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of theintended advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent whenreference is made to the following description taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings illustrate examples of various components of theinvention disclosed herein, and are for illustrative purposes only.Other embodiments that are substantially similar can use othercomponents that have a different appearance.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating three horizontally extendingdewatering pipes which are vertically spaced one above the other andoffset horizontally with respect to each other to feed collected seawater to a pumping station and the return of the collected sea waterback into the ocean.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the layout of the dewatering pipesand return lines with respect to a body of water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake ofclarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to thespecific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that eachspecific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in asimilar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

With reference to the drawings, in general, to FIGS. 1 and 2, a beachpreservation system embodying the teachings of the subject invention isgenerally designated as 10. With reference to its orientation in FIG. 1,the beach preservation system operates in a coastal beach area 12 towhich the action of waves from the ocean 14 are encountered. The ocean'slevel varies from a low tide level 16 to that of a high tide level 18.As is known, the action of storms on the coastal area tends to, overtime, lower the level of sand found at the beach area.

To overcome the reduction of sand so as to maintain or increase thepresence of sand in coastal area 12, a series of at least two, andpreferably at least three, dewatering pipes 20, 22 and 24 extendhorizontally through the coastal area for a length of approximately1,000 feet. The vertical spacing between the dewatering pipes isapproximately two to four feet between one dewatering pipe and the nextadjacent dewatering pipe. The pipes are also horizontally spaced by asimilar distance of two to four feet to offset the extent of reach ofthe dewatering pipes into the slope of the coastal area. Accordingly,the lowermost pipe 24 is spaced furthest away from the interior landmass in accordance with the slope 26 of the shoreline forming thecoastal area.

At opposite ends of each of the dewatering pipes 20, 22 and 24, anapproximately right angle water transmission line 20A, 22A, 24A and 20B,22B and 24B, respectively, are formed. Each of the water transmissionlines 20A, 22A, 24A terminate in a manifold 28 of pumping station 30having pump 32 for drawing the water collected in horizontally extendeddewatering lines 20, 22, 24 up into the pumping station 30. Similarly,water transmission lines 20B, 22B, 24B extend into a common manifold ofpumping station 34 having pump 36.

Pumps 32 and 36 are operable 24 hours a day, seven days a week toevacuate water from the dewatering lines 20, 22 and 24 and theirassociated water transmission lines at the opposite ends of thedewatering pipes. Therefore, as waves break on the shoreline 26, thewater of the wave is allowed to penetrate in the direction of arrow 38to move the water of the waves downwardly through the sand and into thedewatering pipes 20, 22, 24. By the downward movement of this water, anysand particles present in the wave water are deposited upon theshoreline 26.

Over time, the particles of sand collect and serve to maintain orincrease the horizontal extent of the shoreline towards the ocean. Theaction of the waves depositing the sand particles onto the shoreline isof a greater extent than would naturally occur due to the constantevacuation of sea water from the shoreline by the dewatering lines. Theavailability of the shoreline to retain wave water due to the constantevacuation of water at a depth below the surface, allows for a naturaldepositing to a greater extent than would normally occur of the sandparticles.

At the pumping stations 30, 34, a return line 40 is provided for pumpingstation 30 and return line 42 for pumping station 34. As shown in FIG.1, the terminal end 44 of the return line allows collected sea water tobe returned into the ocean at a distance from the collecting dewateringpipes 20, 22, 24. Therefore, there is a constant cycle of watercollection and discharging of collected water back into the ocean.

Alternatively, one or both of the pumping stations 30, 34 includes aland discharge line 46, 48, respectively, for an alternate use of thecollected sea water. The water discharge from lines 46, 48 can be usedfor replenishing marina water, as well as other uses. A valve 50 isoperable to control the direction of flow of the collected sea water,either back into the ocean or to an alternate land directional use.

The foregoing description should be considered as illustrative only ofthe principles of the invention. Since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of theinvention.

1. A beach stabilization and dewatering system comprising a plurality ofelongated dewatering pipes buried in a shoreline area of a beach, saidplurality of elongated dewatering pipes being vertically andhorizontally offset from each other in a pattern following aninclination of the shoreline, and opposed ends of the elongateddewatering pipes being connected to a pumping station for removal ofwater from the shoreline and transfer of water collected at theshoreline by the elongated dewatering pipes.
 2. The beach stabilizationand dewatering system of claim 1, wherein there are two spaced pumpingstations.
 3. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 2,wherein a transfer line connects the opposed ends of the elongateddewatering pipes to a respective pumping station.
 4. The beachstabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein the elongateddewatering pipes are progressively spaced at an equal separationdistance in a vertically offset alignment.
 5. The beach stabilizationand dewatering system of claim 1, wherein the elongated dewatering pipesare progressively spaced at an equal separation distance in ahorizontally offset alignment.
 6. The beach stabilization and dewateringsystem of claim 1, wherein a water return line extends from the pumpingstations and extends under the dewatering pipes into the body of water.7. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 1, wherein awater return line extends from the pumping stations and extends inland.8. The beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 6, wherein avalve controls a direction of water from the pumping stations.
 9. Amethod of beach preservation, said method comprising excavating a firsttrench and depositing a first dewatering pipe in the trench in a beachfront location, excavating a second trench and depositing a seconddewatering pipe vertically above the first dewatering pipe andhorizontally offset from the first dewatering pipe in an inlanddirection away from the first dewatering pipe, connecting the first andthe second dewatering pipes to two spaced pumping stations, andexcavating water from the first and the second dewatering pipes by thetwo pumping stations and transferring the evacuated water to one of thewater adjacent to the beach front location and inland.
 10. The method ofbeach preservation of claim 9, wherein a third trench is excavated and athird dewatering pipe is deposited vertically above the seconddewatering pipe and horizontally offset from the second dewatering pipein the inland direction away from the second dewatering pipe.
 11. Themethod beach stabilization and dewatering system of claim 9, wherein thepumping stations include a valve for selecting the one of transferringthe evacuated water to the beach front location or inland.
 12. Themethod of beach preservation of claim 9, wherein opposed ends of thefirst and the second dewatering pipes are connected to the pumpingstations by vertically rising transfer lines.
 13. The method of beachpreservation of claim 9, wherein when the evacuated water is transferredfrom the pumping stations to the water adjacent to the beach front, atransfer line extends at least 100 feet offshore.
 14. The method ofbeach preservation of claim 10, wherein the first, the second and thethird dewatering pipes extend parallel to each other and parallel to ashoreline of the beach front location.